Brains, Blood, and Croissants
by maggalina
Summary: The tragedies happening in Europe didn't escape the notice of some muggles who suspected the true cause, magic.


Lissy has been added to chat.

"Hello, Lissy," typed Merlijn.

"Hi….Merlin? Is that actually your name? Or does it just go with the whole 'magic is real and that is what is behind all the unexplained tragedies happening' theme."

"Well it is Merlijn but most people just call me Merlin, they sound similar."

"Oh ok."

"Hey guys! I have been staking out that weird area of London we were talking about and I swear I see people disappear into it but I can't focus on the space no matter what! It must be magic! I also heard people muttering about Muggles outside the pub, but there isn't a pub!" interrupted Paula.

Paula lived in Ireland and so it was easiest for her to go to London, especially compared to some of the others in the chat. The reason London was so important was because this chat was devoted to the belief that magic was real and them reason for all the missing people and destruction happening across Europe. It seemed like a war was being fought with invisible armies.

This group of 20 or so people talked as much as possible and tried to uncover the truth.

"Meow," said Lissy breaking the silence that had settled as everyone took the time to interpret Paula's news.

"Oh, new person! Hi! I'm Paula!"

"Lissy! Hi! I'm Milly!"

"Oh, Milly, you had to come on now? My mom needs to use the phone. I will be back soon. Life is too cruel to deny me the absolute euphoria that is talking to you," moaned Merlin.

"Are you two like dating or something?" asked Lissy.

"NO!" typed Merlin and Milly nearly simultaneously.

"I am dating Lynn. I cannot be in a romance that is not with Lynn, unless it is an alternate universe where Lynn does not exist and that would be a very sad universe. I really must be leaving now though. Goodbye again."

Merlin has signed out.

* * *

Chatting continued with Liza commenting on them oddities of her new neighbours the Wilkins and wondering if they were connected to magic. Milly talked about her recent visit to Salem and the reoccurrence of the word 'muggle'. Muggle came up frequently as did the irregular patterns of many owls recently.

When Merlin came back he and Milly retreated into their own private chat room to discuss Milly's upcoming trip to France. Milly was visiting and Merlin, who lived in Belgium, believed this to be the perfect opportunity to visit with Milly, who was like a little sister to him. His compliments were legendary around the chat even though they were mostly reserved for Milly.

With the trip and visit all planned the two said goodnight and went to bed.

* * *

Finally the time for the trip came and Merlin was taking the evening train to France to meet Milly soon after she gets off the plane in Paris.

He had to switch trains somewhere in France and was met with about an hour's delay. He walked outside the train station to get chocolate chaud. There was a small café about a block away according to a map posted inside the station. As he was walking towards the café he made a mental note to tell Milly that she was sweeter than all the hot chocolate in the world.

He stopped on a street corner trying to remember the way from here when a tall man came and walked up beside him.

"Bonsoir," Merlin said greeting the man in French.

The man greeted him in turn and Merlin took the opportunity to ask for directions. Coincidentally the man, who introduced himself as Sanguini, was going to be walking past the café so it only made sense they walk together.

When they got to the café it was closed, and Merlin was instantly on alert. They had talked about this on the chat, it should have been open for at least another two hours but it was mysteriously closed. It had to be magic.

Turning to Sanguini he said,"Now, you may think I'm crazy but magic is real and I think something bad is going happen soon. We should get away."

"You know that magic is real? I'm surprised, I took you for a muggle. Muggleborn though I am guessing, no wizarding parents would dare to name their child Merlin."

Merlin raised an eyebrow, the only evidence of his surprise. He could not wait to share this with the group. This would be the biggest breakthrough of all breakthroughs.

"I suppose that means I shouldn't just feed on you then, may as well turn you," Sanguini continued.

With that Sanguni latched onto Merlin's neck bringing him practically to death before giving him a bit of blood in return. Merlin awoke from unconsciousness soon after, feeling odd but not entirely unpleasant. Going over the events and running his fingers over the puncture marks on his neck he concluded that he was dead. Luckily however he came back to life, sure he might have a near insatiable blood lust but he was sure Lynn wouldn't mind. This might delay his plans with Milly though. The rest of the group would be ecstatic though, as he was now a real life magical creature! Proof of magic! They were right!

He checked the time and it was possible that if he ran he just might make it on the train. He started to run and he found he could run faster than he had ever imagined possible. Magic was awesome!

He got back to the train station in more than record time and settled into his seat with his luggage, which now seemed surprisingly light, and used the time to figure out how to meet Milly. By the time he approached Paris the sun was rising and he had to find a place to hide until it set. He took the time to place a phone call to the friends Milly was staying with to ask them to pass on a message that his train was delayed and he wouldn't be able to meet her until dark but if he could meet her at the same place around 10pm that would be perfect.

Luckily they didn't question why he couldn't just meet her the next day and the promised to pass on the message. Then he ran as fast as he could to find a sheltered area to sleep his adventure off and wait for Milly. His choices were becoming limited as the sun rose and so he settled into a dumpster in the alley by the chosen café. It was mostly empty and didn't smell at all. It was perfect.

* * *

Milly began her walk to the chosen meeting spot between her and Merlin, while she was nervous she was also very excited to meet him. The two had been talking for ages now and he was like a big brother to her. She was originally thrown off by his desire to meet so late but accepted that he probably just wanted to meet as soon as his train got in.

About a block away from the café Milly saw two men with funny masks stumbling out of a bar. One of them looked at her flicked a stick causing a bolt of green light to shoot at her. If she had been able to hear what happened next she would have heard the men slurring something that sounded like, "No more pointless Muggle killing tonight. The Dark Lord said it is time for subtlety."

"Well she's dead wa-am-I supposed to do?"

"Make her alive again."

"How'm I supposed to do that?"

"With a spell."

The corpse on the ground was then shot with another blot, this time red.

"There now she is an inferi."

In making her an inferi however, the spell had been performed incorrectly as the thoughts of the caster only focused on reanimated the body not on controlling it. This left her dead but still in control of her own body.

Milly woke up on the sidewalk and something felt funny. Her chest didn't feel right…and she was freezing. She wondered if she had fainted because her blood pressure dropped or something, she tried to find her pulse but couldn't seem to, even if she put her hand right over her heart. Her heart wasn't beating, somehow she was dead and alive at the same time.

She was just starting to panic when she heard footsteps behind her. Quickly turning, she was to find it was only Merlin.

"Milly! I can't hear your blood pumping! Did the vampire get you too?"

"Vampire? Too? Merly, what are you talking about? And what do you mean you can't hear my blood pumping."

"A vampire killed me and brought me back as one of them! I'm magic now! Well maybe somehow I don't really know but the point is we were right! And now are you one too?" He felt her neck looking for the puncture marks but couldn't find any.

"I got shot with a stick and some green light. Now I think I'm dead? I just hope I don't have flies following me soon."

"It must have been more magic. I think you are dead, but the same kind of undead I am. Maybe you are something like a zombie. No matter what though my heart still beats for you even if it doesn't beat."

Seeing how calm and actually excited Merly was about this calmed any fears Milly had. She knew this was preposterous but there was no reason not to believe him, after all wasn't she a believer in the fact that magic existed in the real world.

So she was dead, so was Merlin, but at least they were dead together. May as well make the most of it.

* * *

And so they spent their evenings in Paris and their days in the dark, both were reported as missing but neither could exactly go home when dead. They were accepted into the fringes of the magical society and lived their eternities there. They still kept in contact with the group who was thrilled to be right and to have insight into the truth of things.

As Merlin suspected Lynn was totally okay with Merlin's new undead status. He was still Merlin was he not?

Merlin would take every opportunity to reassure Milly that even though her body appeared to be dying she was still more beautiful than three eternity's worth of sunrises and sunsets.

They lived together in France and did all the things any other brother and sister would do. They became each other's family expanding it with a few other magical creatures including werewolves who stood out from the rest as they could cast magic which made life easier.

Merlin would buy Milly cotton candy at the circus and shower her with compliments. She was sweeter than all the cotton candy in the world. That even though her heart didn't beat it was still bigger than all the elephants' hearts. And they continued.

You had never seen more love between two people romantic or platonic, and that love never faded for all eternity.

* * *

Yeah...I can't fluff very well. But here is my fic dedicated to all my fanfiction/whatsapp friends who helped inspire this story.


End file.
